How to lower tsh quickly.

[wvrobyn]

I have been on Armour Thyroid for 2 months at 90mg and my tsh is 30. My endo raised it to 120mg 2 weeks ago. Should I see a significant drop in the tsh soon? I have just been approved for sleeve surgery but surgeon won’t do the surgery with a tsh that high. My thyroidectomy was March 2017. I’m so sick of fighting my thyroid, especially since I don’t even have one anymore! Lol. Any other tips on lowering tsh are welcome! Thank you!

[humanbean]

So, your thyroidectomy was performed 10 months ago and yet you were only on 90mg of Armour Thyroid after 10 months? That isn't nearly enough to be a full replacement dosage for a missing thyroid, in my opinion, and your endo has been really dragging his/her heels in getting your dose up to a sensible level.

The raise to 120mg is a start, but I very much doubt it will reduce your TSH as much as you would like. I'm certain it won't be enough. Many people on this forum feel best with a TSH which is under 1, so you have a long way to go yet.

In the UK patients on NDT (natural dessicated thyroid i.e. products like Armour - there are other brands with different names) with no thyroid or no remaining thyroid function might end up on the equivalent of 180mg - 300mg of NDT, or rarely they may be on even more.

Incidentally, if you were to get your nutrient levels and thyroid meds dose up to optimal you might find you will lose weight without any kind of surgery. Living with hypothyroidism (however it is caused) is hard enough as it is without reducing your absorption of nutrients a huge amount.

[SlowDragon Administrator]

Essential to check vitamin D, folate, ferritin and B12 levels

Post results and ranges if you have them. Get GP to test if not

[Clutter]

Wvrobyn,

Your endo didn't start you on sufficient replacement and has been too slow in increasing dose. Thyroid gland produces around 100mcg T4 and 10mcg T3 daily so your endo should have started you on 120mg Armour and increased dose in 30mg increments until TSH was 0.2 - 1.0. It won't hurt to increase dose to 150mg now and to 180mg in another two weeks and hold for 4 weeks at 180mg and retest. If you are a little overmedicated dose can be reduced.

I'm thyroidectomised and was off replacement for 4 weeks and TSH rose to 107.5. It took about 8 weeks to drop to 0.16 on 100mcg T4 + 25mcg T3.

ps ask your GP to check ferritin, vitamin D, B12 and folate levels. They are often low in hypothyroid patients and surgical outcomes are better when levels are good.